Hi, everyone, welcome to the continuation of the Countdown to GayRomLit 2016 Blog Tour. We’re so pleased to welcome author Neil Plakcy today.
Enjoy!
My GRL Memory
I’ve only been to GRL once, in Atlanta in 2013, but it was pretty inspiring. I was standing in line to get in on the first evening, and the guy in front of me wore a spaghetti-strap tank top that put most of his very buff back and shoulders on display. And beyond that, I was inspired by the big tattoo on his back, of an angel’s wings.
It turned out to be Charlie Harding, who was there to promote his line with Wilde City Press. I went to a Starbucks a few blocks from the hotel and churned out fifty pages at once—an incredible output for me.
But then that fifty pages sat on my computer for a while. I couldn’t figure out what to do with this story of an ex-porn star with angel wings tattooed on his back, now retired and living in the South of France, and the overweight, sad gay man who was stalking him.
Eventually I realized that this could be the start of a book in my Have Body, Will Guard series. After all, my bodyguards, Aidan Green and Liam McCullough, were already living in Nice. What if I moved my story there and had my retired porn star, Freddie Venus, hire them to protect him from these unwanted affections?
From there, the story grew. I fell in love with Freddie and with Newt Camilleri, who writes M/M erotic fiction about a gay unicorn who skewers homophobes with his horn, and then had to figure out how to engineer a happy ending for them.
The book, called Finding Freddie Venus, was published in 2015, and I was delighted that my publisher, Loose Id, was able to find a photo of a buff man with an angel wing tattoo for the cover.
I’m looking forward to being just as inspired by this year’s GayRomLit. Charlie, will you be there?
About Finding Freddie Venus
Series: Have Body, Will Guard: Book Seven
Publisher: Loose Id
Length: 224 Pages (Kindle)
Category: Mystery/Suspense, BDSM, Contemporary
Purchase Links: Loose Id || Amazon || ARe || Kobo
Blurb: Aidan and Liam’s new client is former gay porn star Freddie Venus, who survived an epic slide and now lives a solitary life in a restored farmhouse outside Nice. He hires bodyguards when he begins to believe he is being stalked.
Newt Camilleri is a sad, overweight fifty-year-old who writes gay unicorn porn but has no romantic life. He has fled his dead-end job and old life to start again on the Riviera. When he spots Freddie, his porn idol, in a grocery store, he kicks off the plot that will bring them together.
But Freddie’s past is about to come back to haunt him. Will Aidan and Liam be able to save Freddie, and help him and Newt start a new story together?
About the Author
Neil Plakcy is the author of the Mahu Investigations, mysteries which take place in Hawaii. They are: Mahu, Mahu Surfer, Mahu Fire, Mahu Vice, Mahu Blood, Mahu Men, Zero Break, Natural Predators and Children of Noah.
His M/M romance novels are GayLife.com, Mi Amor, Love on Site, Love on the Web, Love on Stage, Love on the Pitch, and the Have Body, Will Guard series: Three Wrong Turns in the Desert, Dancing with the Tide, Teach Me Tonight, Olives for the Stranger, The Noblest Vengeance and Finding Freddie Venus.
He has also written the golden retriever mysteries In Dog We Trust, The Kingdom of Dog, Dog Helps Those, Dog Bless You, Whom Dog Hath Joined and Dog Have Mercy.
He is co-editor of Paws & Reflect: A Special Bond Between Man and Dog (Alyson Books, 2006) and editor of many gay erotica anthologies. A journalist, book reviewer and college professor, he is also a frequent contributor to gay anthologies.
Find out more about Neil at: Website || Twitter || Facebook || FB Author Page || Goodreads